SCOTLAND’S top gold medal hope has ignited a doping storm days before Glasgow 2014 kicks off.

Swimmer Michael Jamieson made a series of barbed comments about how rife drug-taking is becoming in his own sport.

The 25-year-old Glaswegian, tipped for Commonwealth gold in the 200m breaststroke, was driven to fury days ago during a documentary about shamed cyclist Lance Armstrong.

Under Twitter handle mj88live, he wrote: “This #ArmstrongLie doc gives public an idea of how deep doping in sport goes! Cycling is most def not alone.”

The tweet, accompanied with a graphic of a swimmer, followed up on earlier posts including: “Another Russian swimmer testing positive?! How many are currently serving bans? 20? 30?

“Swimming is the new track & field – a joke.”

Jamieson has also raged against the soft punishments handed out to dopers.

On May 3, he tweeted: “An athlete can fail a drugs test for taking certain cold remedies & face serious suspensions, yet Tyson Gay fails 3 tests for testosterone & is only banned for 1 year, backdated – so he’s eligible to compete from next month.

“Testosterone isn’t taken by mistake. National governing bodies have too much say in the length of suspension.

“This story lets us know there is no real desire to tackle doping!”

After watching the Armstrong documentary on July 7, Jamieson made a reference to the growing number of athletes being diagnosed with thyroid deficiencies.

Although there is no conclusive proof that the thyroxine used to treat athletes for hypothyroidism boosts performance, Jamieson tweeted: “The excuse ‘everyone does it’ has turned into ‘I’ll pay a doc to diagnose me with this condition #THYROXINE!”

Concern over thyroid medicine led the International Business Times to publish an article headed Hypothyroidism in Star Athletes: Undiagnosed Epidemic, Hormonal Grey Area or Cloaked Doping?

It reflects the views of anti-doping pioneer Dr Don Catlin, who claims athletes could be taking thyroid hormone – which is not currently banned – for its stimulant effects.

Michael hits out at drug taking in sport

Only one in 1000 men would normally be expected to have hypothyroidism, but in athletics some teams are said to have 17 per cent of members receiving thyroxine.

Hypothyroidism is a condition where the thyroid – a butterfly-shaped gland in the neck – is underactive and doesn’t produce enough of some of the hormones a person needs to regulate their metabolism and other bodily functions.

This hormonal imbalance can lead to heart disease, infertility, obesity and pain in the joints. It is most commonly found in women over the age of 60.

Last night, 1980 Olympic 100m gold medallist Allan Wells said Jamieson would do well to focus on his own performance.

The Scots sprint star explained: “For a talented athlete like Michael Jamieson, a real medal contender, it must be frustrating to know there are people out there trying to get an edge by illegal means.

“I understand his frustrations but if I was in his shoes I think I would avoid Twitter this close to the Commonwealth Games.

“I’m sure he has prepared extremely well and he will have a fantastic chance of a gold medal but it is his own performance that is the key thing.”

Twitter post from Michael's account

Wells added: “He is entitled to his opinion and it’s good that he has a strong view on drugs cheats.”

Jamieson was unavailable for comment yesterday. A spokeswoman said: “Michael is in training camp and he will be in competition in eight days’ time, so he is very much focusing on that right now.”

Jamieson won silver at the 2012 Olympics, breaking the British record three times in the process.